Alice Madness Returns Mad as a hatter
by Tea For Lunatics
Summary: From somewhere in/before the Madness Returns period, about Alice's experiences at the orphanage. Mostly about Alice and Dr. Bumby. No pairing.
1. Chapter 1 Alice's POV

I couldn't sleep, and I decided that lying awake trying was a waste of time. So, I carefully got out of bed, as quietly as I could to not wake the other children at the orphanage. I could hear some of them snoring. Could it be their loud, calm breathing that kept me awake, perhaps? I walked carefully out of my room and in to the corridor, trying not to lose my grip on reality while I passed dark doors and terrifying photographs.  
"It's all right, Alice", I told myself quietly. "It's just darkness. Nothing can hurt you."  
Just when I had said that I heard a dripping sound. I turned around and felt how my body froze in terror. It was the cat, Dr. Bumbys cat. It was stroking against my leg, as usual - but something was missing. The head. It should be impossible, but the cat was walking around right there, in front of me, without it's head and let the blood run down the cut off neck, and flood down on the cold floor. The brown fur was black of blood. I looked down, and realized that my white, used nightgown was covered in blood as well, and I felt the wet fur against my leg when the purring, headless cat stroke its body against me. I saw how a track of blood was left on my leg after the fur. I was too scared to make a sound, and I walked backwards in pure fear to get away from the bizarre creature who now, somehow, had begun to whisper with a desperate voice that grew stronger for every second;  
"Help me, Alice! Help me!"  
"No...", I whispered, "No...", horror-struck that it was another vision from Wonderland, and even more scared that it wasn't.  
The cat was screaming now, so loud that I had to put my hands over my ears to block the sound out;  
"HELP ME, ALICE! HELP ME!", and I was just about to scream for help, call for the doctor, perhaps, when I backed into someone, for I had not stopped walking backwards.  
"Alice Lidell!", a calming, well-known voice said. "What are you doing up?"  
I turned around to see Dr. Bumby standing behind me, full-dressed, and could not help but wonder what _he_ was doing up himself this hour.  
"I-it's t-the cat", I stuttered, still terrified.  
Dr. Bumby raised his eyebrows. "Yes, you've met Amanda before, many times", he said and lifted the cat up, which did not miss a head at all.  
I looked down on my legs, but nothing of the blood that had been there before could be seen. My nightgown was faded but white, without any stains.  
"You look like you've seen a ghost. What's happened, Alice?", the doctor asked.  
I swallowed and took a deep breath. What I had seen wasn't real.  
"Nothing at all, doctor. I can't sleep, I'm afraid. I apologize if I disturbed you somehow", I replied and wiped my sweaty hands off on the nightgown.  
"Don't worry about that, Alice. Are you sure that nothing happened? I happen to have, as you can see, some time over for an extra session. No one needs to know anything", Bumby said, stretching out his hand.  
It was an invitation.  
"Thanks, doctor, but no thanks. I appreciate your politeness, but I think I might go back to bed", I excused myself, not liking the look on his face.  
Maybe it was something from my mind, which I did not trust at all anymore, but I thought I saw irritation in the doctors brown eyes. However, that irritation disappeared as fast as it appeared.  
"That is good, Alice. Sleep is good. I think I might go to bed myself", he said. "Goodnight, Alice."  
"Goodnight, doctor", I replied and turned around to walk back to my room.  
"Oh, and Alice?", the doctor added, and I stopped to listen.  
"Yes, doctor?", I asked.  
"There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Keep that in mind", he said. "Now, go to sleep. And don't forget our time tomorrow."


	2. Chapter 2 Dr Bumby's POV

I sat on my office, once again reading the notes from today – trying to get my head around them.

"_Alice. Go to Wonderland."  
"I'd rather not, doctor. My Wonderland's in pieces."_

"_Abandone that dream, Alice. Go. To Wonderland."  
"It's not a dream, it's a... Memory."_

I sighed, irritated. Had I ever met a woman as stubborn as Alice? Probably not. Which did not at all mean that she was any match for me. I had already damaged her mind severely with that fire. It was not hard to go inside her shattered mind and break it just a little more for every day. I enjoyed every minute of it. I just had to be careful. I didn't want her to go raving _mad_, I just wanted her to _forget. _She would be to no use if she was mad as a hatter. Where would she end up then? In the Asylum, for course. I didn't want that. Customers would give good money for her. And I would enjoy her myself...

No, she was hardly a match for me. She was stubborn but stupid, that lunatic. She trusted me. Ha! Her sister had done the same thing... At first. And that was another proof of how superior I was. I had raped her sister, murdered her family, she had seen it all, even looked into my eyes just when I was on my way down the stairs to set the house on fire, _and she did not even remember my face. _

I was almost too good at this. A couple of days, maybe a week or two, and then she would be mine. The human psyche is not as complicated as you might think. Little miss Lidell would not even remember her name when I was done with her.

Suddenly, I heard a noise outside the offince, from the corridor. If it was someone of the wayward, worthless, gullible children I would make them wish that they had never even thought of getting out of bed. I do _not_ appriciate being disturbed.

I opened the door to the office, and walked out in the corridor, trying to figure out which child it could be that was up running, but it did not go well; my thoughts were constantly dragged back to Alice and Elizabeth and that night in general. I could now discern a tall, thin body in a white nightgown and when speaking of the devil! There she was, the little mad Alice Lidell. She was standing in the middle of the corridor with her hands over her ears while she backed away from... My own beloved cat, Amanda. The same cat she had played with so many times before. Of course, she did not see Amanda as she was – only God knows what was going around in Alice's little confused head! However, even though I did not see her face, I was sure that she was completely terrified. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for a scream and I realized that I had to stop her before she woke the other children.

"Alice Lidell!", I said in my calmest voice and at the exact moment her thin little body backed into me.

"What are you doing up?", I asked, and she turned around. Her tangled, dark hair had started to grow out again after the shaving in the Asylum, and it made a sharp contrast against the although faded but white nightgown, which hung on her very thin body like a sheet. Her green eyes were still wide open in terror and she had to calm herself before she stuttered;

"I-it's t-the cat..."

I did not get paid enough for this. Maybe, if she had been _Lizzie_ it would have been worth it... But Alice was not even near as unique and smart as her sister had been. She did not have the sparkly eyes, her hair was too tangled to be even near the word beautiful and she hardly had any breasts at all. Her body seemed to never gain weight, she looked like a skeleton, and her skin was death pale except for the areas around her eyes, which were swollen and red after crying and bad sleep. No, she hardly was anything like Lizzie. Maybe she had been when she was younger, before the fire. But years of misery had put its track on her, no doubt about that. She was a shadow of Lizzie. She was maybe even a shadow of herself. And even though all this, even though all of this, she still had something inside her that made her look... Beautiful. Not the gaspy beauty Lizzie had, of course... No, this was something else. Something within that seemed to glow out from her eyes. Her eyes. Her eyes dragged me to her like a moth is dragged to the light.

"Yes, you've met Amanda before, many times", I said and lifted Amanda up to show Alice that the cat was no danger before little Lidell got insane.

Alice looked at the cat, and then down at her feet. Confused. Yes, I had definiately done a good job with her. Soon, it would be done.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. What's happened, Alice?", I asked, and could not get my eyes off her nightgown. The thin body beneath. So thin. Like glass. So easy to break...

"Nothing at all, doctor. I can't sleep, I'm afraid. I apologize if I disturbed you somehow", Alice said.

Nonsense, of course. I knew she was still scared. She whiped her hands off on her nightgown, as if to drag my attention back to it. The thin body under it. I wanted it. I _needed _it. She was still scared. Maybe it would just take one more turn...

"Don't worry about that, Alice. Are you sure that nothing happened? I happen to have, as you can see, some time over for an extra session. No one needs to know", I said, hoping that she was desperate enough.

I stretched out my hand.

_Take it, Alice..._

_Take it..._

_Take it, you mad, filthy bitch!_

_Take it!_

She didn't take it.

"Thanks, doctor, but no thanks. I appriciate your politeness, but I think I might go back to sleep.", Alice excused herself, and I could see in her eyes that she understood that something was not quite all right. Irritation, almost anger, blowed up within me. Why couldn't she just do as I told her _for_ _once_? But I calmed myself. I had to have some patience. Had to wait.

"That is good, Alice. Sleep is good. I think I might go to bed myself", I lied. Of course I would not go to bed. I would sit up, read all the notes once again, trying to figure out how to destroy her. "Goodnight, Alice", I said. _Sleep well. Don't worry about those nightmares._

"Goodnight, doctor", she said and turned around to walk away.

Once again slipped out of my hands.

"Oh, and Alice?", I added.

She stopped walking. "Yes, doctor?"

"There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Keep that in mind", I told her.

_In mind. Ha! Now, isn't THAT funny?_

"Now, go to sleep. Don't forget our time tomorrow."

_Have fun in the dark, Alice. Don't let those nightmares scare you. The real threat is closer than you might think. _


	3. Chapter 3 Alice's POV

As I walked back to my room, I could not let go of Dr. Bumby's offering.

"An extra session? In the middle of the night?", I asked myself to see if it sounded as mad as I thought it did.

The walls were dark and threatening and even though I tried not to, I could not get my eyes off them.

"Calm yourself", I said. "As Dr. Bumby said, there is nothing to be afraid of. All that can happen is that you get another hallucination."

I put my arms around my waist to warm myself; it was cold in the nightgown. The position reminded me of the straightjacket, and I let my arms fall down my sides, even though I was shivering. I was close enough to the other children's room to hear their loud snores.

"Then it begins again", I sighed. "Just another sleepless night. I wonder if Dr. Bumby would mind putting me in another room."

I walked into my room and succeeded with avoiding to look at the photographs that were hanging on my wall, the few photographs that were left of my family.

"I wonder where you are now", I mumled to the photographs without looking at them and slipped into bed.

Surprisingly, I fell asleep before I could count to three. Maybe it was the hallucination that had tired me.

I woke up to hear the other childrens noice. Some of them were running around, some of them just talking loud. Some of them crying. It would not matter how hard sleeping one was; one would wake up here as soon as the children did anyways.

I was tired, and had almost forgotten my nightly adventure, but as soon as my feet reached the cold floor I remembered everything again.

"An extra session", I repeated to myself. "That is quite strange."

I saw my clothes hanging on a chair and reached for them, even though I would rather stay in the nightgown.

"I wish I had some other clothes", I said to no one while I was putting them on. "Or at least got the opportunity to wash the ones I own properly."

When I had put on the overused dress and the rest of what was left of my clothes, I walked out in the corridor. I happened to see a reflection of myself in one of the photographs as I was walking by.

"Seems like Wonderland is not the only thing that is shattered", I said to myself. "I look like a wreck!"

I passed some children that was running by. I stopped one of them.

"Excuse me", I said. "Do you mind telling me the time?"

"The time?", the little child repeated with a big grin.

His friend had stopped as well, and giggled at me.

"Yes", I said irritated.

"Well...", the child said. "I could tell you the time. But that would cost, you know."

"Cost indeed!", the friend nodded.

"Don't be stupid", I snapped. "I want to know the time. Could you spare me the misery of running up and down these stairs looking for a watch and just tell me without upsetting me?"

The child's grin disappheared.

"It's ten AM", he muttered and walked away with his friend.

After a few meter they stopped and whispered to each other.

"You're MAD!" the friend then screamed at me and they ran away, laughing.

"I've heard that one before", I said more the myself than them as I started to walk towards Dr. Bumby's office. "I at least know my own mind."

There were only ten minutes left before our said time, so I sat down in one of the few chairs that were standing outside the door.

"I wonder where Amanda is", I said. "I think I owe her an apology. Of course I did not hurt her... But letting her head be cut off like that in my mind would still be quite an insult if it was _me_ who had blood running down my cut off neck."

Then I heard how my own words sounded.

"I surely sound mad", I admitted. "I better be careful with what I'm saying out loud, if I don't want to end up in the Asylum again."

Just when I said that, the door opened and there he was; Dr. Bumby.

"You're right on time, Alice", he said with a smile. "Let's begin, shall we?"

"Yes, doctor", I said and walked inside the door.

The doctor closed it behind us.


End file.
